This week on Things Unseen, we've been turning our minds to the important biblical theme of God's covenant.

And yesterday we were reflecting on the Sinaitic covenant, the covenant that God made with Moses. And I was trying to stress how important

it is to see that that Sinaitic covenant reflects the covenant of grace, and to avoid the drastic

mistake of thinking that the covenant with Moses and the Old Testament with it teaches us that

we're saved by works.

As Paul points out, the law of God was given centuries after God's covenant with Abraham.

It didn't annul that covenant of grace, but was given within its context.

But then when we actually read the small print of the Mosaic law,

it does all seem to focus on what we do.

There are so many details, and to be honest, it looks as though there are so many restrictions.

So many don't do these things, but do these things. It can all sound so legal,

so much law and commandment, so many instructions about sacrifices and offerings,

that sometimes people get the impression that pleasing God must have been very hard work. And so the idea that the

Mosaic covenant, the Saniatic covenant, seems mainly to be about good works, can, I think, perhaps

too easily persist in people's minds and also then in their hearts. And that can be a problem not only for understanding the Old Testament,

but an even greater problem for how we think about God himself. Is that what he's really like

behind it all? Constantly scrutinizing us with a multitude of do's and don'ts and mainly

don'ts.

Well, you know what my answer is going to be, I'm sure.

It's not like that.

But how is it not like that?

Well, this is a huge subject, and I can only give a brief answer here.

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